Assembly to part?

Question

I have a design that consists of a flat plate with a variety of small elements protruding from both the top and the bottom. I've tried modelling this as a multi-body part where each type of element is driven by either a table or a sketch and it simply isn't working very well. The file size grows at an alarming rate and the individual protrusions (which have complex shapes) become lost in a sea of features....it'll be very hard to maintain this part.

If, on the other hand, I model the individual protrusions as separate little parts that I then join together with the baseplate in an assembly all is well. The individual parts are easy to maintain and document and the overall assembly easy to understand and modify.

So, the question is: What's the best approach to saving a fully connected homogenous assembly like this as a part just for the purpose of having a job-shop be able to generate toolpaths for machining?

Thanks,

-Martin

That70sTick · Accepted Answer

Save as --> Part (selection box at bottom of dialog box, same boxwhere you would select parasoli/iges/etc.)

m · Answer

Right. I guess I was hoping for a secret way to turn it into a single solid rather than a collection of surfaces. But, if this is the only way.

The follow-on question might be: Is this sort of assembly-to-part result understood by toolpath generation software without problems?

Thanks,

-Martin

Keith Streich · Answer

Possible solution is to use a procedure I use to mirror assemblies, just don't do the mirror. You would end up with a single body part file, that would automatically update (unless you add a new part). Do a Google search on me or Neal about mirrored assemblies on this newsgroup. On Monday I can repost my little procedure when I get to work.

Keith

Keith Streich · Answer

Possible solution is to use a procedure I use to mirror assemblies, just don't do the mirror. You would end up with a single body part file, that would automatically update (unless you add a new part). Do a Google search on me or Neal about mirrored assemblies on this newsgroup. On Monday I can repost my little procedure when I get to work.

Keith

Keith Streich · Answer

My machine hiccupped!

albert.inspirtech · Answer

You could insert a new part into your assembly and then add a "combinefeature" to your new blank part.Insert - feature - CombineAl WhatmoughVideo Based SolidWorks Training

Assembly to part?

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